slowworm

[ sloh-wurm ]

/ ˈsloʊˌwɜrm /

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noun

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of slowworm

before 900; slow + worm; replacing Middle English slowerm, slowurme,Old English slāwerm, slāwyrm, equivalent to slā- (compare dialectal Swedish slo,Norwegian slō slowworm) + wyrm worm

Words nearby slowworm

slow-up, slow virus, slow wave, slow-wave sleep, slow-witted, slowworm, sloyd, SLP, SLR, SLSC, slub

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use slowworm in a sentence

A silvery creature like a slowworm came crawling out from among them, slowly crossed the clay floor, and crept into the fire.
Lilith|George MacDonald
Since then a large silvery slowworm was killed just there—a great pity, for they are perfectly harmless.
Field and Hedgerow|Richard Jefferies
But the blindworm, or slowworm, as this creature is called, is perfectly harmless.
The Animal World, A Book of Natural History|Theodore Wood
They are wrong; and they must be told that they are wrong, and scolded if they kill a slowworm.
Madam How and Lady Why|Charles Kingsley

British Dictionary definitions for slowworm

slowworm

/ (ˈsləʊˌwɜːm) /

noun

a Eurasian legless lizard, Anguis fragilis, with a brownish-grey snakelike body: family AnguidaeAlso called: blindworm

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012